Electrically powered artificial lighting has become ubiquitous in modern society. Electrical lighting devices or luminaires, such as light fixtures or lamps, are commonly deployed, for example, in residences, buildings of commercial and other enterprise establishments, as well as in various outdoor settings.
In recent years, there have been increasing demands for effective and aesthetically pleasing lighting for spaces with open architectures, including many with high ceilings. In many cases, light fixtures for such applications are hung at some distance below the ceiling, although not necessarily as low as the more traditional eight to ten foot ceiling heights in office or older residential buildings. Traditional large scale luminaires (e.g. drums, bowl pendants) often do not efficiently provide enough useful light to serve as the ambient layer. Such products are visually massive due to their vertical height. Higher efficient products designed for higher mounting heights, such as high bay light fixtures or high output cylinder fixtures, come with high luminance and the potential for glare.
It may also be useful in large spaces to sub-divide the area into smaller virtual areas or zones of association or intimacy for a specific function without walls; and the lighting for such smaller areas or zones is configured to provide separately controllable illumination at appropriate levels within those areas or zones.
Also, existing large format luminaires have very limited form factors or are built in place. The main light emitting surface in these form factors typically are flat cylindrical, hemispherical or semi-cylindrical, which may unduly limit appearance as well as lighting performance, particularly for applications in large open spaces and/or spaces with open ceilings.
Satisfying these competing demands has led manufacturers to customize light fixtures to specialized applications in different parts of different customers' buildings. Customized light fixtures, however, come at substantially higher cost than mass produced light fixtures.